One week to Fiji

[AndyT]

For WA I set my strobes out wide, pointing outwards.

 

[Waterbaby09]

Hi Larry - hope your trip was great.

We are thinking of heading to this area next year so a report on the diving would be would be fantastic. Also how did you find the resort and facilities for working on your cameras and charging?

 

[bobgads]

Larry,

I am thinking of going to Fiji in late summer early autumn. I would love to read a detailed report on your trip from flight, to hotel to diving and all in between...if that is not to much to ask.

 

[Larry C]

Trip was great, travel was ugly!
United to LA, then Pacific Air to Nadi, Fiji. Flight was about 10 hours, but we had an 8 hr. layover in LA and another 8 in Nadi. There's basically one flight a day on the little plane from Nadi to Kadavu, where we stayed at the Matava resort. 33 hours combined flying/airport time. Trip back was considerably shorter and we did some tourism in Nadi. You can negotiate the hire of a taxi at the airport and have it for several hours for about $100 US. We went to dinner and did some shopping downtown and went to the "Garden of the Sleeping Giant" a beautiful park full of trees, flowers, ponds that runs all the way up the side of the mountain. Worth the trip if you enjoy flowers.

We had a fabulous time on Kadavu. Matava is not where you want to go if you value your hairdryer over your surroundings-there's no electricity in the Bure's except for the main one. They do have lights for the evening, run by solar power and you can charge your batteries in the Main Bure' but only during the day. Also, bring a converter if you're not running 240V on a three pole round plug. I didn't and though my camera battery charger worked on 240 and could use their plug adapters, my aa charger didn't. I had to swap batteries daily with Richard, one of the partners and he would take them home and charge them. Unfortunately, the last three days he was off buying a new boat for the resort and I had to turn off my strobes between shots and conserve my batteries.
We really enjoyed the communal meal settings. Generally lunch was served after the second dive, but breakfast and dinner were consistent. 7:30 AM Breakfast, 7 PM Dinner, with the bar open at 6pm. All the food was delicious. By the end of the stay, we knew pretty much all of the other campers with the exception of a couple of families that came only for deep sea fishing and kept to themselves. There were a couple of Cava ceremonies in the Main Bure, put on by some of the employees and their brethren from the nearby village.
We attended the church at the village to hear the beautiful harmony of their choir singing the local hymns and then played in the waterfall. We were amazed by the friendliness and welcomed by all the Fijians we met. We constantly heard Bula! Bula Vinaka! as we walked the trail from the resort to the village.
The diving was generally excellent. Apparently the water was at record cold levels, a consistent 75f. and it was a bit breezy and sometimes drippy, as July is the middle of Winter in the South Pacific. Don't believe the travel guides about the winter weather. It was warm and pleasant in Nady, but the wind in Kadavu blows straight out of the arctic. I wore a 5mil wetsuit and tropical booties, with my normal gloves and was comfortable. My wife wore her 7mil with no gloves and wished she had her core warmer. The divemasters were wearing 5's and 7's and were complaining of being cold. Still, I much prefer it to sweating in the summer with 98f, 97% humidity and no air conditioning.
Vis was mostly quite good, though with the outgoing tide, the water would cloud up and bring it down from our usual 75-100+ (apparently typical winter vis) to sometimes 30-50 with some particulate. Dives were carefully timed for the tides, first, to make it possible to get to and from the dive sites readily, second, to make sure that the vis at the site would be good by avoiding outgoing tides and third, to avoid the really strong currents that occur in the passages during incoming and outgoing tides. All the dives were essentially liveboat drift dives. This was the one downside for me, as they were invariably led by a divemaster at a pace that would allow site coverage and pickup for divers of all levels. Dives were 45 minutes to an hour and most were between 40 and 100 feet depth. This didn't allow me much time to hang at a spot and wait for the best shot, unless it was the shallower reef where we finished, and if I found a nudi or some other small beasty, there wasn't really time to swap lenses and take three or four shots to get a decent one. It was mainly, pull of the WA and hold it in my other hand, swap the camera to supermacro and swoop in for one or two quick shots hoping to get a decent focus. 99% of my shots were taken with the WA lens mounted.
Here's a link to the slide show of my favorites. I'll run a separate post with a few individual shots that a felt decent about.
Image hosting, free photo sharing & video sharing at Photobucket

Thanks to all who helped me with last minute advice.

 

[AussieByron]

Have a good time over there. Will be interested in your report on your return as I am heading there in November for my birthday. Heard that there is also excellent game fishing from Matava resort.

Regards Mark

 

[Waterbaby09]

Thanks for the info - esp. on the batteries and charging. Much as I admire the ethics behind being eco, it's not all that practical sometimes. Shame about that but I have since heard that Mai Dive is also a good resort and they have power.

 

[shawrg]

Nice report and very accurate description of Matava Resort. I was there last year and also had a fabulous time. Part of the charm of the resort was meeting the really cool guests at mealtime. Battery charging was a bit of a hassle but not a showstopper. Thanks for the report and the link to some great pictures.

Trip was great, travel was ugly!
United to LA, then Pacific Air to Nadi, Fiji. Flight was about 10 hours, but we had an 8 hr. layover in LA and another 8 in Nadi. There's basically one flight a day on the little plane from Nadi to Kadavu, where we stayed at the Matava resort. 33 hours combined flying/airport time. Trip back was considerably shorter and we did some tourism in Nadi. You can negotiate the hire of a taxi at the airport and have it for several hours for about $100 US. We went to dinner and did some shopping downtown and went to the "Garden of the Sleeping Giant" a beautiful park full of trees, flowers, ponds that runs all the way up the side of the mountain. Worth the trip if you enjoy flowers.

We had a fabulous time on Kadavu. Matava is not where you want to go if you value your hairdryer over your surroundings-there's no electricity in the Bure's except for the main one. They do have lights for the evening, run by solar power and you can charge your batteries in the Main Bure' but only during the day. Also, bring a converter if you're not running 240V on a three pole round plug. I didn't and though my camera battery charger worked on 240 and could use their plug adapters, my aa charger didn't. I had to swap batteries daily with Richard, one of the partners and he would take them home and charge them. Unfortunately, the last three days he was off buying a new boat for the resort and I had to turn off my strobes between shots and conserve my batteries.
We really enjoyed the communal meal settings. Generally lunch was served after the second dive, but breakfast and dinner were consistent. 7:30 AM Breakfast, 7 PM Dinner, with the bar open at 6pm. All the food was delicious. By the end of the stay, we knew pretty much all of the other campers with the exception of a couple of families that came only for deep sea fishing and kept to themselves. There were a couple of Cava ceremonies in the Main Bure, put on by some of the employees and their brethren from the nearby village.
We attended the church at the village to hear the beautiful harmony of their choir singing the local hymns and then played in the waterfall. We were amazed by the friendliness and welcomed by all the Fijians we met. We constantly heard Bula! Bula Vinaka! as we walked the trail from the resort to the village.
The diving was generally excellent. Apparently the water was at record cold levels, a consistent 75f. and it was a bit breezy and sometimes drippy, as July is the middle of Winter in the South Pacific. Don't believe the travel guides about the winter weather. It was warm and pleasant in Nady, but the wind in Kadavu blows straight out of the arctic. I wore a 5mil wetsuit and tropical booties, with my normal gloves and was comfortable. My wife wore her 7mil with no gloves and wished she had her core warmer. The divemasters were wearing 5's and 7's and were complaining of being cold. Still, I much prefer it to sweating in the summer with 98f, 97% humidity and no air conditioning.
Vis was mostly quite good, though with the outgoing tide, the water would cloud up and bring it down from our usual 75-100+ (apparently typical winter vis) to sometimes 30-50 with some particulate. Dives were carefully timed for the tides, first, to make it possible to get to and from the dive sites readily, second, to make sure that the vis at the site would be good by avoiding outgoing tides and third, to avoid the really strong currents that occur in the passages during incoming and outgoing tides. All the dives were essentially liveboat drift dives. This was the one downside for me, as they were invariably led by a divemaster at a pace that would allow site coverage and pickup for divers of all levels. Dives were 45 minutes to an hour and most were between 40 and 100 feet depth. This didn't allow me much time to hang at a spot and wait for the best shot, unless it was the shallower reef where we finished, and if I found a nudi or some other small beasty, there wasn't really time to swap lenses and take three or four shots to get a decent one. It was mainly, pull of the WA and hold it in my other hand, swap the camera to supermacro and swoop in for one or two quick shots hoping to get a decent focus. 99% of my shots were taken with the WA lens mounted.
Here's a link to the slide show of my favorites. I'll run a separate post with a few individual shots that a felt decent about.
Image hosting, free photo sharing & video sharing at Photobucket

Thanks to all who helped me with last minute advice.